Joining I

This chicken leg, the name alone looks suspicious...

Lin Hui felt he could already imagine the potential flavors of these two types of chicken legs.

He stared intently at the chicken legs, trying to discern further explanations from these two branches.

Unfortunately, the information from the Blood Seal seemed to end there, providing only two names that relied entirely on guesswork.

"Eat up, why are you spacing out while eating?" his mother Yao Shan asked from the side, looking puzzled.

"Mm, I know, Mother." Lin Hui withdrew his gaze, nodded, and began to gnaw on the chicken leg.

As his gaze shifted, it landed on the chopsticks in front of him, and the Blood Seal began to flicker and distort once more.

New dashed lines began to extend from the edges of the chopsticks.

"Bamboo Chopsticks: Common tableware, moderate wear. Evolvable branches: 3."

"1--Heaven Crystal Bamboo Chopsticks."

"2--Purple-Green Thunder Bamboo Chopsticks."

"3--Chopstick Man."

"..." Lin Hui stared at the final Chopstick Man, falling into deep thought once again.

He could guess the meanings of the first two from their names, but that last one...

He tried to imagine the third evolutionary branch in his mind.

Hiss.

After a faint sound, all the evolutionary branches before him vanished, and the third branch reappeared, magnified, with a string of subsequent information appearing.

"Evolve into Chopstick Man?"

"Required resources: A pair of bamboo chopsticks, one year of stored energy."

"Required time: Five years."

So long!?

Lin Hui was startled and hurriedly chose no.

If he had chosen yes, he might have lost a whole year's worth of energy, and as for what kind of Chopstick Man would emerge, it would be a pure gamble.

After quickly finishing his meal, Lin Hui made an excuse about going out to clear his head and stood up to leave the house.

Because of the Door-Breaking Ghost, tall patrol squads from the yamen were constantly passing by outside.

Since it was safe right at his doorstep, Lin Hui simply squatted by the entrance to test what this newly awakened Blood Seal could actually do.

First, he squatted down, looked left and right, and casually plucked a blade of grass.

"Roadside Grass: Common plant, immature, suitable for livestock farming. Evolvable branches: 2."

"1--Purgatory Bitter Spirit Grass."

"2--Grass Man."

"Sure enough, it's here again. This Grass Man isn't any different from the Chopstick Man earlier, is it?" Lin Hui tried selecting Grass Man and immediately saw a wait time of at least seven years...

He then picked up a stone from the ground and held it in his hand.

Sure enough, the stone also displayed evolutionary branches.

"1--Reinforcement Stone."

"2--Stone Man."

This time, he didn't choose Stone Man, but instead chose 1, Reinforcement Stone.

"Evolve into Reinforcement Stone?"

"Reinforcement Stone: Can consume a fixed amount of stone powder to gain a slight physical enhancement.

Required resources: A stone, seven days of stored energy.

Required time: One month."

That's better. Although this one is also long, at least there's hope; the previous ones took far too long.

Lin Hui breathed a slight sigh of relief.

He then put down the stone and tried many other types of rocks, all of which yielded similar evolutionary branches.

Through constant testing, he gradually began to understand the function of this Blood Seal.

"This thing is an all-purpose enhancer; it can enhance anything and provide certain deductive analysis information. Aside from the consumption being a bit too high, perhaps there are other aspects I haven't explored yet." Lin Hui temporarily shelved his exploration, planning to wait until he went to Qingfeng Temple and learned real techniques and knowledge before trying to see if he could incorporate other abilities and skills for enhancement.

Thinking of this, he looked up at the passing crowd, and the trace of oppression and worry he had felt earlier began to fade away as the capabilities of the Blood Seal emerged.

Early the next morning, Old Man Lin Shunhe took Lin Hui, and they traveled by ox cart along the road leading out of town.

After traveling for over an hour, the two arrived at a somewhat remote fork in the road.

The ox cart bumped as it turned into the fork, finally stopping in front of a gray-white Taoist temple with a circular outer wall.

Lin Hui stepped off the ox cart and looked up to examine the Daoist temple.

"Qingfeng Temple."

The three large characters were upright and firm, neither ostentatious nor restrained, possessing a sense of balance and peace.

Two young boys dressed in pale blue Daoist robes were standing at the entrance, each leaning on a broom while chatting.

Only when they saw someone approaching did they begin to sweep in a perfunctory manner.

"Little Master Quanshun, is your master Mingde in?"

Old Man Lin Shunhe stepped off the ox cart, paid the driver to leave and return later to pick them up, then stepped forward to greet one of the young acolytes.

"It's Uncle He who brings the candied haws! He's in. Master told us that if we saw you, we should bring you in to find him!" The acolyte on the right, who didn't have a blue hair tie, recognized the visitor immediately.

"Then I'll trouble you." Lin Shunhe laughed heartily, cupped his hands in a salute, and led his son through the temple gates.

Inside the gate was a somewhat empty courtyard. On the right stood a large incense burner, while on the left, several Daoists sat cross-legged on the ground, seemingly meditating and chanting.

Directly in front of the courtyard, facing the gate, was a small three-story square building, its corners adorned with carvings of winged snakes curving upward.

The entire building was painted a pale red, though the paint was peeling in places, showing its age.

Just then, hearing footsteps, a burly, bearded Daoist in gray-white robes and black cloth shoes laughed and walked out to greet them the moment he saw Lin Shunhe.

"Brother Shunhe, you've arrived! I've been waiting for you!"

"Brother Mingde, I'm really troubling you this time. This is my son, Lin Hui!" Lin Shunhe pulled Lin Hui forward and patted his back with a smile.

"He's getting older and wants to find some work. I heard you were short of an accountant who knows arithmetic, and my son is definitely up to the task! I brought him here to give it a try."

"That's easy enough. Given our friendship, we can talk once he's inside. But whether he can actually do the work depends on his performance; after all, the final decision rests with our Temple Master, Brother Baohe," Mingde said with a smile.

"That goes without saying, that goes without saying."

The two men exchanged pleasantries as they entered the building.

Lin Hui politely greeted the man and followed them through the door.

Inside the temple hall, a headless god statue with missing limbs was enshrined. There were no offerings in front of it, making it clear that this place wasn't a true temple, but rather a martial arts hall masquerading as one.

Soon, Lin Hui was settled into a side room off the main hall to wait.

His father and Daoist Mingde went off to handle the procedures for his entry into the temple.

The side room was small, but it contained a bookshelf and a set of table and chairs.

With nothing to do, Lin Hui asked a passing Daoist outside and, upon receiving permission to browse the shelves, walked over, pulled out a copy of the Wuwu Sutra, and began to read.

"Non-action is action; to act is to act, not doing is not inaction, but rather the binding of the heart, moving toward a set direction..."

The scripture was convoluted and circular; after flipping through a few pages, he found it tedious and closed the book, intending to slide it back.

Hiss.

At that moment, that familiar, faint sound returned.

Lin Hui's heart skipped a beat. He quickly retrieved the scripture and looked at it closely.

Wuwu Sutra: Written by Daoist Wuming, the foundational doctrine of the Wusheng Dao. Evolvable branches: 3.

1--Purgatory Wuwei Sutra.

2--Nine-Layer Compliance Sutra.

3--Formless Wordless Sutra.

Staring at these three evolutionary branches, Lin Hui narrowed his eyes and randomly selected the Purgatory Wuwei Sutra to expand.

Evolve into Purgatory Wuwei Sutra?

Required resources: One Wuwu Sutra, twelve years of stored energy.

Required time: Fifteen years.

"The longest time yet..." Lin Hui felt a chill. "It's a pity I can't see what this scripture is actually used for."

He returned the scripture to its place and scanned the other books on the shelf.

Aside from scriptures, there were various travelogues and miscellanies, but soon, he pulled a different book from a gap in the corner.

Heart-Sealing Sword.

The book was thin, only nine pages long. On the bottom right of the cover, the author's mark indicated it was written by a Daoist named Mingxin.

Lin Hui flipped through a few pages. It discussed how to help a person achieve sudden enlightenment, completely sealing the desires of the heart, thereby "sealing the heart" to enter the Dao and embarking on the true path of pursuing immortality.

After skimming through it, Lin Hui discovered many specific details on how to use verbal induction to guide others, and he felt somewhat surprised.

"This is basically foundational hypnotic psychology, isn't it?"

He focused his attention on the book once more.

Immediately, a new dotted line extended from the right side of the pale blue cover of the Heart-Sealing Sword.

A gray dotted line connected to a small piece of information.

Heart-Sealing Sword: Foundational scripture of the once-glorious Fengchan Sect, widely circulated, written by Daoist Mingxin. Evolvable branches: 2.

There was nothing left to say, so Lin Hui tapped on the evolution branches.

"1--Fengyuan Scripture."

"2--Fengguang Art."

Seeing this, Lin Hui sighed. Just looking at the names without any specific descriptions of their effects, he didn't dare to choose. After all, the time cost was measured in years, which was no small matter.

Up to this point, he still hadn't fully grasped what this Blood Seal was actually for.

Perhaps once my body grows stronger and my energy becomes more abundant, I should be able to shorten the evolution time...?

Knock, knock, knock.

Just then, a knocking sound came from outside the door.

"Brother Lin Hui, are you there? Your father and Uncle-Master Mingde want you to go to the inner hall." A somewhat youthful male voice drifted in.

"Understood." Lin Hui walked over and opened the door. Standing outside was a young Daoist boy with delicate features and his hair tied in a bun.

"Nice to meet you, I am Huishen. From now on, I will be the one mainly responsible for helping you get familiar with the environment and guiding your studies."

The Daoist boy was about thirteen or fourteen years old, quite a bit younger than Lin Hui, but his speech and mannerisms were very mature. As he looked at Lin Hui opening the door, he offered a gentle smile—a smile clearly imitated from other adults, making it appear somewhat overly mature.

"Greetings, Senior Brother Huishen." Lin Hui quickly bowed.

"Let's go. I look forward to working with you," Huishen said with a smile, turning around to lead the way.

*

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Joining Qingfeng Temple had been very simple for Lin Hui, as he had used his connections with Daoist Mingde, an expert within the temple who was very close to his father, Lin Shunhe.

The structure of the entire Qingfeng Temple was quite simple, and after a few days of exploration, Lin Hui had a rough grasp of the situation.

At the very top was only one person: the temple master, Daoist Baohe.

Below him were the various managers in charge of affairs, totaling three people: Ming Chen, Mingde, and Ming Xiu. The three took turns managing the temple's logistics, teaching, and external miscellaneous affairs.

In essence, Qingfeng Temple was still a profit-oriented institution that primarily earned its keep by teaching basic external martial arts. Combined with a small herb garden they had cleared on the mountain behind the temple, where they cultivated a precious herb known as Shixing Root, these two sources easily supported all the temple's expenses.

After Lin Hui joined, he quickly became familiar with his daily routine and work under Huishen's guidance.

Mingde assigned him some basic arithmetic, and upon discovering that he completed it with ease, he gradually began to offload more problems onto him.

While Lin Hui familiarized himself with the environment and his work, he also continued to study his newly awakened Blood Seal.

In the blink of an eye, a week had passed...